Books, Movies and Judaica and Random Thoughts About Whatever

“HOLY HELL”— Life with a Gay Messiah

“Holy Hell”, the documentary, was just screened at the Sundance Film Festival and received great reviews. It is about what happened to those who followed Michel, who founded Los Angeles-based spiritual community known as The Buddha Field.

Michel was gay, although sex was forbidden among the members of the community. Will Allen joined Buddhafield as their videographer, and as Michel’s personal masseuse. It did not take long before the relationship between master and pupil became sexual, and even then the life of peace and harmony they were all promised held everything together.

As so often seems to happen with cults though, the members began to see things about Michel they didn’t like— his paranoia, his need for control, his secrecy and his demanding nature, as well as revelations about his past and what he had been forcing members of the community to do. Things began to collapse and Will escaped, taking much of the footage he shot with him, which has become the basis for the film “Holy Hell”.